APPENDIX 1. Supplementary tables and figures
Table A1.Possible statuses of piping plover nests during each nest check in New Jersey, USA, 2015–2017.
Status Description
Active Nest actively being tended by both adults; incubation observed Hatched Nest hatched; chicks present
Depredated Nests lost to predation as evidenced by predator tracks at the nest bowl
Overwashed Nest lost to flooding as evidenced by the high tide line above the nest bowl, nest bowl no longer visible, and no predator tracks at the nest
Abandoned Nest inactive; adults not tending eggs; no plover tracks at the nest bowl; eggs cold
Buried Eggs covered with 3+ inches of sand following a high windstorm event, evidenced by digging out nest scrape and finding eggs
Unknown Eggs missing from the nest scrape with no reliable evidence as to the cause
Table A2. Sample sizes of nesting attempts and renesting attempts of piping plovers at sites where red foxes were present or absent in New Jersey, USA, 2015–2017.
Event Fox present Fox absent Total
Nest attempts 87 90 177
Renest attempts 29 35 64
Figure A1. Number of detections of each mammalian predator species at piping plover breeding sites in New Jersey, USA, 2015–2017. Species are as follows: feral cat (Cat, Felis catus); coyote (Canis latrans); domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris); red fox (Fox, Vulpes vulpes); American mink (Mink, Neovison vison); Virginia opossum (Opossum, Didelphis virginiana); raccoon (Procyon lotor); striped skunk (Skunk, Mephitis mephitis); and unknown mammal (Unknown).
Study sites include Barnegat Lighthouse States Park (BALI), Holgate Unit, E.B. Forsythe NWR (HOLG), North Brigantine Natural Area (NBNA), Malibu Beach Wildlife Management Area (MWMA), Avalon-Dunes (AVDU), Stone Harbor Point (SHPT), North Wildwood (NOWI), Cape May Point State Park (CMPSP).
Figure A2. Predation probability for piping plover nests at sites where red foxes were present (fox) and where foxes were absent (nofox) with (ex) and without (unex) nest exclosures in New Jersey, USA, 2015–2017.Study sites are labeled as follows: BALI, Barnegat Lighthouse States Park; HOLG, Holgate Unit, E.B. Forsythe NWR; NBNA, North Brigantine Natural Area;
MWMA, Malibu Beach Wildlife Management Area; AVDU, Avalon-Dunes; SHPT, Stone Harbor Point; NOWI, North Wildwood; CMPSP, Cape May Point State Park. Each box
represents the inter-quartile range (25th and 75th percentiles) where the center stripe of each box represents the median. The whiskers represent the observation greater than or equal to the 25th percentile ‒1.5*IQR or the 75th percentile +1.5*IQR.
Figure A3. Nest abandonment posterior probability density for piping plover nests at sites where red foxes were present (fox) and where foxes were absent (no fox) with (Ex) and without (Unex) nest exclosures in New Jersey, USA, 2015–2017. Dashed lines represent mean estimates, and the width of each distribution represents the variability around the mean estimate.
